TY - JOUR
T1 - The relationship between goal setting and student’ experience of academic test anxiety
AU - Flannagan, Michael
AU - Putwain, Dave
AU - Caltabiona, Marie
PY - 2015/8/17
Y1 - 2015/8/17
N2 - Previous studies have established that higher test anxiety (TA) is related to achievement goals with an avoidance valence. However, comprehensive empirical examination of relations between the recently proposed 3 £ 2 model of achievement goals (self, task, and other referenced goals along an approach-avoidance dimension) and test anxiety has yet to be undertaken. To address this gap, self-reported data were collected from 286 undergraduate
students from England, Australia, and Singapore. Variable-centered regression analyses revealed the novel finding that over and above the influence of a range of covariates, including academic self-efficacy, a greater task-approach goal was associated with lower test-irrelevant thinking and bodily symptoms of TA. Further, a higher other-avoidance goal was related to higher worry and tension. Cluster analyses demonstrated that students tended to endorse
multiple goals and, notably, strongly endorsed self and task goals above other-related achievement goals. Educational and clinical implications of these findings are: firstly, one may simultaneously endorse multiple achievement goals in profiles that can be associated
with elevated or reduced TA, and secondly, the previously reported effects of mastery approach goals on TA may have been largely related to the influence of subsumed task-related goals. Results have implications for the management of students with debilitating TA.
AB - Previous studies have established that higher test anxiety (TA) is related to achievement goals with an avoidance valence. However, comprehensive empirical examination of relations between the recently proposed 3 £ 2 model of achievement goals (self, task, and other referenced goals along an approach-avoidance dimension) and test anxiety has yet to be undertaken. To address this gap, self-reported data were collected from 286 undergraduate
students from England, Australia, and Singapore. Variable-centered regression analyses revealed the novel finding that over and above the influence of a range of covariates, including academic self-efficacy, a greater task-approach goal was associated with lower test-irrelevant thinking and bodily symptoms of TA. Further, a higher other-avoidance goal was related to higher worry and tension. Cluster analyses demonstrated that students tended to endorse
multiple goals and, notably, strongly endorsed self and task goals above other-related achievement goals. Educational and clinical implications of these findings are: firstly, one may simultaneously endorse multiple achievement goals in profiles that can be associated
with elevated or reduced TA, and secondly, the previously reported effects of mastery approach goals on TA may have been largely related to the influence of subsumed task-related goals. Results have implications for the management of students with debilitating TA.
U2 - 10.1080/21683603.2015.1060910
DO - 10.1080/21683603.2015.1060910
M3 - Article
VL - 3
SP - 189
EP - 201
JO - International Journal of School and Educational Psychology
JF - International Journal of School and Educational Psychology
SN - 2168-3603
IS - 3
ER -